


On Fandom Racism (and That Conlang People Are Talking About)

by virdant



Series: Fandom Racism Essays [1]
Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Prequel Trilogy
Genre: Analysis, Dai Bendu (Star Wars), Jedi, Jedi Appreciation (Star Wars), Jedi Culture & Tradition (Star Wars), Jedi Culture Respected, Meta, Other, Racism, fandom racism
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-16
Updated: 2020-11-16
Packaged: 2021-03-10 03:07:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,944
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27596618
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/virdant/pseuds/virdant
Summary: The Jedi, Anti-Asian Racism, and how That Fancontent is Problematic: An Essay.
Series: Fandom Racism Essays [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2087187
Comments: 64
Kudos: 203





	On Fandom Racism (and That Conlang People Are Talking About)

**Author's Note:**

> Now that I've been kicked from their server, there's nothing stopping me from writing and posting this essay, right?

A few weeks or months ago (time is, especially now, increasingly nebulous), word came around about a Jedi Language Conlang. I, with my thrice-daily refreshes of the Obi-Wan tag on AO3, saw a fic about it, read through it, shrugged, and moved on with my life. I wasn’t a fan from the first fic—it was fine, not exactly to my taste with how they rewrote a Jewish name to be from a foreign conlang—but people engage in fandom in all sorts of ways, and I, as always, saw no reason to necessarily police them. I rolled my eyes dramatically from my computer screen, but there was so much anti-Jedi sentiment in Fandom anyways that I thought nothing of it.

And then I was informed that they were _Jedi-Positive_.

My reaction was instantaneous. “What the Fuck,” I uttered (in my head, as I live with my family, and shouting expletives would bring my family to my door wondering if I was alright). “What the Fuck.”

And you see, the reason for this is quite simple.

That Conlang, which we shall refer to as such, is one of the least Jedi-Positive concepts that I could have imagined.

## Language in Fiction

To start, we have to discuss the use of language in fiction—specifically the use of foreign languages. 

I use “foreign language” in this case to refer to other languages that aren’t the primary language of writing. So, for example, in the recent novel _Love Boat_ about a Taiwanese-American who goes to Taiwan for a summer learning program, the use of Mandarin and Taiwanese phrases would be a “foreign language”, as the writing of the novel is in English. The concept of a foreign language in writing has always been a discussion point in literary circles, and in these globalized times, is becoming more and more prominent.

Foreign languages in writing have always been a way to set ideas and writing apart. From the use of italics to format individual foreign words (a formatting decision that makes the foreign word appear other to a reader’s brain), to the insistence on translating words and phrases, foreign languages are a tricky situation that writers now are perpetually discussing. The reason that foreign languages in writing are discussed so often is because the way it forces bilingual speakers of the language, especially diaspora readers, to view their heritage language as Other.

Some discussion points that have come up in literary circles include not italicizing foreign words, not translating sentences or phrases, and letting the foreign language exist without justification or excuse. The reason for these decisions come from a place of inclusivity: to allow native and heritage speakers to see their language as something that is a natural part of the story.

This is all to say that foreign languages in writing have been a way to Other a group of people.

What does this mean about conlangs, or constructed languages?

The extrapolation is simple. A conlang has no native or heritage speakers. Therefore, a conlang exists only to Other the fictional group who speaks it.

We can look at some of the most prominent conlang examples in fiction. Tolkien chose to create a conlang for his Elves—otherworldly creatures who set themselves apart from the humans and the stalwart hobbits. Tolkien actively discussed that his hobbits were a depiction of the British people (of whom he was one, and was writing for). The elves, in contrast, spoke a foreign language that set themselves apart from our stalwart heroes; they holed themselves up in their ivory tower (Rivendell) and kept themselves apart from the concerns of Man. They were, in a nutshell, written to appear distant and foreign, unrelatable to the struggles of the Fellowship.

Klingon is another prominent conlang. In this case, the conlang serves, again, to Other the Klingon race. They are portrayed as brutish and barbaric, and the fact that they don’t speak our languages serves to emphasize this. Contrast this with how other alien species in Star Trek are portrayed—the Vulcans, the _good_ aliens, speak English just like the humans. A constructed language in fiction is, by nature, a way to create a sense of Other within the narrative.

We can go now to the prominent conlang in Star Wars fandom: Mando’a. Setting aside the issue that Mando’a was created by a fascist (Karen Traviss has espoused her fascist views in multiple public forums), the Mandalorians in Star Wars have always been a Martial Race archetype—a group of aggressive warmongers who are, by nature, just better at fighting. In this case, Mando’a again sets apart the Mandalorians from the other characters: the Jedi, the clones, who are, simply, lesser to this Martial Race archetype. Again, a conlang is used to set apart a group of people, to Other them within the narrative.

The use of constructed language in fiction serves only one purpose: to portray to the readers that the group speaking it is Other.

## Obi-Wan, the Jedi, and the Original Trilogy

It’s hard to talk about the Jedi without talking about Obi-Wan. When you look at the construction of the original Star Wars (A New Hope), and the Original Trilogy, the viewer views the Jedi from the lens of Obi-Wan Kenobi. The first Jedi that the viewers are introduced to is Obi-Wan Kenobi, who is portrayed as Leia’s only hope. In fact, for the entire first movie, Obi-Wan is the _only_ Jedi that we are introduced to, and so our understanding of the Jedi comes entirely from Obi-Wan’s behavior and language.

So, the viewer understanding of the Jedi has always been tied, intrinsically, to Obi-Wan and who Obi-Wan is and is supposed to be. So, in order to better understand the Jedi, it is necessary to understand not just how the Jedi are portrayed, but what the Jedi are _meant_ to portray.

When George Lucas wrote Star Wars, he was inspired by East-Asian films, including _The Seven Samurai_. He drew heavily from East Asian concepts when creating Star Wars, and his Jedi are, in a nutshell, pseudo-Buddhist Samurai-Monks. From originally wanting to cast Toshiro Mifune as Obi-Wan Kenobi, to giving his Jedi archetype one of the most patently fake-Asian names to exist in Western Science Fiction Media, it is clear that Lucas intended for the Jedi to take the role of a mystic Asian mentor. The Jedi, from their very conception, have always been coded as East-Asian.

Even when we are introduced to a second Jedi (Yoda, living in a swamp), the Jedi remained East-Asian coded. Yoda spoke in “broken” English, was short and hunched over similar to depictions of old Asian men, and his name, again, fell in line with East Asian consonant and vowel patterns (specifically Japanese, in this case).

It’s hard to look at the Jedi, especially the Jedi of the Original Trilogy, and not see them as they were intended to be: mystic space warrior-monks inspired by East Asian archetypes. As with most media created in the 70’s, the depiction was rife with stereotypes and Orientalism, but Lucas had, in a science fiction story that would become one of the largest intellectual properties in the world, written heroes that were coded as East-Asian.

It is no surprise, then, that diaspora Asians, seeing very little representation of their race or culture in Western media, have latched onto the Jedi as a sliver of Asian representation. And, it is no surprise that Star Wars fandom, predominantly White, have responded to the Jedi in the way that they have.

## The Jedi and Fandom: Or, Anti-Asian Bias

For all that George Lucas intended and wrote his East-Asian coded Jedi as the heroes of the story, the majority of fandom has chosen to take the opposite tack.

Popular Jedi takes include the following.

  * The Jedi don’t know how to love!
  * The Jedi don’t show affection!
  * The Jedi steal babies from their rightful parents!
  * The Jedi are repressed, cold and robotic!



Perhaps, if you are White, you have never encountered those same phrases in this form.

  * Asians don’t know how to love! (See: the lack of Asian love interests in Western media)
  * Asians don’t show affection! (See: tiger mothers)
  * Asians steal white women from their rightful love interests! (See: the historical portrayal of yellow peril)
  * Asians are repressed, cold and robotic! (See: the comment section of every video of a talented Asian child portraying their craft on youtube)



Perhaps you are beginning to see how anti-Jedi sentiment parallels anti-Asian rhetoric both historically and in our current time. Perhaps you think that it is merely a coincidence that a group of heroes inspired by East-Asian culture receives backlash that parallels anti-Asian rhetoric. However, it is undeniable that there is overlap between how predominately White fandom treats the Jedi, and how a predominantly White society treats Asian people.

But wait! You might shout. There are lots of stories and meta about the Jedi which are positive! What about those?

Well, I respond, how many of those takes are about embracing the East-Asian inspired qualities of the Jedi, and how many are about westernizing the Jedi, erasing their East-Asian characteristics in favor of Western ones, in order to make them more palatable?

From “The Jedi are aroace,” a headcanon that directly draws on Western ideas of what it means to be aromatic and asexual, to “The Jedi actually _do_ hug and embrace each other,” a headcanon that is contradictory to how East Asian cultures express affection for each other, many Jedi-Positive concepts continue to erase East-Asian influence instead of embracing and portraying these cultural aspects as positive. In Fandom, Jedi-Positive content lies predominantly in showing Western characteristics that lie beneath the Jedi’s East-Asian veneer.

Portrayal of the Jedi in Fandom remains guided through a Western lens. This is inevitable, given that Star Wars has always been made by and for a Western audience, and English-speaking Fandom is predominantly Western. Fandom’s understanding and portrayal of the Jedi stems from an Anti-Asian bias that is predominant in Western society. 

However, just because a thing _is_ , does not mean that it should be.

Unfortunately, critical analysis of subconscious bias requires being able to critically examine oneself.

## Anti-Asian Bias, and That Conlang

What does it mean, to create Jedi-Positive content without an Anti-Asian bias? How do you create content without Asian erasure when you come from an entirely Western perspective?

One way is via language.

Recall that language plays a major role in inclusivity and othering. When it comes to written works, the language that we use: our word choice, our sentence structure, our choice of how we communicate, all play a role in how the reader understands our content. 

Part of writing Jedi-Positive content is to use language that showcases Jedi characteristics in a positive light, especially their East-Asian characteristics with inclusive word choice, with familiar sentence structures, with a discussion of their major tenants not as a lecture, but as a natural way of life. To bridge the gap between a seemingly foreign idea to a Western audience via language and narrative.

Which is why That Conlang is a problem.

By its nature, a conlang does not have a native or heritage speaker. Its purpose only exists to Other a group. By its nature, a conlang seeks to set apart a group, to denote them as strange and foreign to the reader, to comment on their differences.

For the Jedi, a group that Fandom already seeks to other, a conlang only exacerbates the problems of fandom. It takes a group that Fandom already struggles with understanding and emphasizes their foreign characteristics. It is not enough that they are the heroes of the story, they are foreign creatures that we cannot innately relate to. The language being used to describe the Jedi now is not simply problematic word choices or sentence structures, but is actively foreign, a constructed language that nobody speaks.

By creating a conlang for a culture that already struggles with being Othered, where positive portrays of it involve erasing its foreign characteristics in favor of Western ones, That Conlang actively leans into the Anti-Asian bias that Fandom has for the Jedi.

It is not enough that the creators of the conlang have chosen to work on a project that, by its nature, is Othering.

The creators of the conlang have chosen to only use Western language inspirations for That Conlang.

None of the creators of the conlang are Asian. The two originators of the conlang speak only European languages. They have an additional creator who is learning Japanese. None of them are heritage or native speakers of any Asian language, and none of them have thought to seek feedback from heritage or native Asian fans. The language has removed the consonant and vowel pattern of the original Jedi words of Jedi and Padawan (both words with a strong Japanese/East-Asian influence in their construction) in favor of a more Western consonant-vowel pattern. The creators have actively said that they don’t understand tonal languages (a major characteristic of Chinese and Chinese dialects) so they have chosen to ignore them utterly. The creators have, with their Western-centric view, chosen to utterly erase the East-Asian influence from the Jedi in a claim of Jedi-Positivity.

The creators are not only ignorant of the East-Asian influence of the Jedi, they also are actively working against it. The creators have taken the Qigong Temple of Legends, a clear homage to the Force’s origination in the Chinese concept of Qi and its martial applications (Qigong), and suggested that the Legends creators named it after Qui-Gon. They later walked back that explanation by saying that Qui-Gon (pronounced entirely differently), is named after the Qigong Temple. Their behavior shows a lack of research and respect for the East-Asian concepts that the Jedi are derived from, and their persistence in clinging to the original idea that Qui-Gon’s name and Qigong are related show an unwillingness to recognize their own blindspots when it comes to Anti-Asian bias.

It is not positive to erase the East-Asian influence from an East-Asian inspired culture. It is not positive to imply that a group must have their East-Asian influence erased in order to be seen as positive. It is not positive to make a group that already is seen as Other and Lesser by the majority of fandom More Other.

Language and culture are inherently connected. The creators, in creating a Western-inspired conlang in the name of positivity, have implied that an East-Asian culture is inherently other, have implied that East-Asian influence should be erased in order for positive content to exist, and have chosen to emphasize the Jedi as a culture that is foreign and should be Westernized.

## What does this mean for me, as a consumer of content?

It is important to note that I do not bring this up as a means of saying that you cannot enjoy the conlang. By all means, it is within everybody’s right to consume and enjoy racist content. However, it is a mistake to behave as if a project that seeks to erase the East-Asian influence from the Jedi and at the same time Other an East-Asian inspired culture is _not_ racist or is above racism.

Star Wars is, to its bones, Orientalist. It has always drawn from and appropriated East-Asian culture, and it continues to do so. But pretending that this racism does not exist, or erasing the appropriated culture, is also racist. Racism is not about an individual’s malicious choices, it is about upholding the White power structure. It is racist to dismiss the voices of POC who take issue with a work, racist to use one POC to speak over another to justify upholding Western ideals in East-Asian inspired work, racist to whitewash and erase the Asian influence inherent in Star Wars. 

It would also be a mistake to say that I do not have a stake in this essay. I have always been outspoken about Anti-Asian bias and racism in Star Wars fandom, have always worked actively to showcase the Asian elements of the Jedi in a positive and inclusive light. It would be a mistake to say that I write this merely as a public service announcement, without any personal stakes or feelings.

I want to bring up that the creators have refused to acknowledge their racism, have insisted that they are above racism, have claimed that since they come from a place of “fandom is fun” that they should not be critiqued. I want to bring up that when several of us brought up the Anti-Asian bias in a server, we were harassed out on claims that we were toxic. I want to bring up that when people bring up Asian erasure issues to the creators, their issues are dismissed and diminished. I want to bring up that despite not having any Asian people on their creation team, they have justified this by saying one of them “speaks Japanese” (as a learner), and that their beta readers are multilingual (even though said beta readers have claimed that they only have a basic understanding of many of the languages they listed).

The creators of this conlang are not ignorant. They are actively choosing to ignore their racist behavior.

It is, of course, your choice whether or not you wish to enjoy this conlang. It is your choice whether you wish to endorse and support a work that is actively Anti-Asian, that clings to a veneer of Jedi-Positivity to justify their racism. But ultimately, nothing about this work is surprising within the Fandom ecosystem. 

It is your choice whether or not to be actively anti-racist, or to simply allow racism to continue to grow within this Fandom.

**Author's Note:**

> Some notes:
> 
> I have to thank my fellow Asian Jedi fans for helping me through the conception, drafting, and writing of the essay. It has been very important and powerful to find a community of people who feel similarly, and I do not believe any of us, without the solidarity of our companions, would have been brave enough to speak out against racism in fandom.
> 
> This is not a reason to go and harass anybody for creating bad content; this is an essay focused specifically on racism, and not the technical aspects of conlang or writing. This essay is being posted here, under my name, in my space, on a public archive for people to easily find and access. 
> 
> You are welcome to share this essay on other social media sites, as long as you attribute properly. Please do not copy and paste it.
> 
> Dealing with this situation has been draining, and has reduced my bandwidth when it comes to writing fic. It would be a lie to say that it feels that much of my work in producing positive Jedi content feels wasted, with how fandom has chosen to embrace racist content. It would be a lie to say that this situation and my recent lack of productivity are unrelated. I am, truly, very tired of seeing Anti-Asian racism everywhere in this fandom, and attempts to speak out against it being quashed down.  
> 
> 
> Want to discuss Anti-Asian racism in fandom with me? You can find me at the following:
> 
>   * asian jedi agenda, my new writing discord
>   * Follow me on twitter [@virdant](http://www.twitter.com/virdant/)
>   * [Like & retweet on twitter](https://twitter.com/virdant/status/1328485896811806720)
>   * Comment and kudo below
> 



End file.
